REVIEW: Heroes Reborn 1×04 “The Needs of the Many”

Heroes Reborn chugs along yet another week with a significantly weaker episode than its predecessors. “The Needs of the Many” revealed a little more about what’s going on with Renautas and their evil plan to take over the world one EVO power at a time, but the show was mired by some slow buildup and unnecessary filler. (spoilers ahead!)

Let’s look at each group of characters’ stories individually. Ren and Miko/Katana Girl head to America to infiltrate Renautas with hopes of rescuing her father. They realize that they can’t just go sneaking into the heavily guarded building that easily, so Ren uses his massive influence as a world-renown gamer to recruit some help. The last we see of the duo, they are rushed by a group of cosplayers outside of Renautas, and half of the fans are dressed as Katana Girl. I’m assuming the next episode will show them using these cosplayers as decoys of sorts so that Miko can sneak into the building?

Luke and Joanne are on the road, hunting down more EVOs. Luke finally develops sympathy for their victims because he realizes that they are just regular humans with families and lives and such. But little does Joanne know that the real reason he’s suddenly all hugs and kisses for EVOs is because he’s discovered he’s one of them (blessed with the awesome power to harness solar energy and use it as a weapon). In a tense scene, Luke finally reveals his power to Joanne by burning a list of EVOs right in front of her. Joanne takes off and leaves him behind. We the audience see an angered yet slightly hurt look on her face. It’s obvious that this isn’t the last confrontation we’ll see between Joanne and Luke.

In Los Angeles, Carlos is shown working on his El Vengador suit. Now he’s got armor as well as strength-enhancing hydraulics to increase his fighting power. Not only that, but it looks like he’s also trying to build himself a little Vengador-mobile to assist in his vigilantism. I think I’ve mentioned before how much I liked seeing the El Vengador scenes. It reminds me of early Arrow. I would love an entire episode or even a spin-off series revolving around El Vengador. However, I can already tell that it would be little more than a carbon copy of Arrow (not that that’s a bad thing).

One part of the episode I didn’t like involved these two mysterious women in the Arctic Circle. We’ve caught glimpses of them in previous episodes, but we finally learn more about them in this installment. All you need to know is that Malina can seemingly bring dead things back to life (as demonstrated when she revives frozen moths and grows a tree from beneath the snow), and that Farah can become invisible. I couldn’t get into Farah and Malina’s scenes. I don’t care what’s going on with them. I can only hope that they’re a HUGE part of what’s going on with the main storyline regarding Renautas and June 13th so that their involvement isn’t just random filler.

Finally, we have what I would call the “main” storyline featuring Quentin and Noah. These two work with Taylor to break into Renautas and find Molly Walker, the EVO with the ability to locate anybody on the planet. They find her all right, along with dozens of other EVOs, all strapped into these strange harnesses. All of these EVOs are “plugged-in” with wires extending out of the backs of their necks. As hinted at from previous episodes, it appears that EVOs are being harnessed for their powers.

In one of the most shocking parts of the episode, Molly pulls Noah’s gun from his holster (really stupid move – you’d think a trained agent would know better) and shoots herself in the head to prevent anyone from using her powers for evil. Now Renautas is restricted to only being able to locate EVOs on a smaller scale.

Renautas was looking for one particular EVO, and now, that mission is of top priority. Who is the EVO they’re looking for? Phoebe, Quentin’s sister. Why exactly do they want her so bad? Maybe it’s the fact that she can manipulate darkness and shadows?

The episode was pretty “meh”. There were strong moments, but the boredom set in rather quickly for me. However, I can see people who may have enjoyed themselves during the episode. By the way, if you haven’t checked out “Dark Matter” online yet, then you’re missing out. It’ll go deeper into Quentin and Phoebe’s background and shed some light (no pun intended) on Phoebe’s dark powers.

Final Grade: C

+ Watching Carlos amp up the El Vengador costume and start working on the Vengador-mobile was cool; it makes me excited to see what kind of vigilante action we’ll see in future episodes.

+ Solid acting all around, especially with Luke and Joanne’s scenes.

+ Molly’s fate was a huge twist that I didn’t see coming; kudos to Heroes Reborn for pulling off such a dark plot point.

– They need to stop with the misleading previews; I’m just going to assume that none of our favorite characters from the original Heroes will return until the finale.

– The setup at the end with all the EVOs being harnessed like batteries was pretty much a rip-off of The Matrix.

– I’m not sure what’s going on with the two women in the Arctic Circle, and frankly, I don’t care; they gotta find a way to tie these two back into the main storyline.

– I’m just getting bored with the show overall; the buildup is tedious and over-extended.

Extra Thoughts:

– They clearly referenced Sylar but they couldn’t at least give him a name-drop? Come on, now. Shoot the man some credit.

What did you think of “The Needs of the Many”? Are you just as annoyed as I am about the misleading episode previews? Tell us what you think in the comments or on Twitter!

About the author

Alex Reale

From a young age, Alex knew he was destined to be a writer. He also harbored a deep infatuation with superheroes and comics. Luckily, he was able to combine these two passions through his role with A Place to Hang Your Cape, where he works as Junior Sidekick and Social Media Hero.

When he’s not writing for AP2HYC or working full-time as a content manager for a small business website, Alex is diligently at work on other creative projects including a fantasy novel collection and an independent comic series.